MELBOURNE, Fla. (Volleyball) – The Florida Tech volleyball team (2-1) concluded the Panther Invitational with split results in its Saturday doubleheader at the Clemente Center, a 3-0 victory over Wilmington (Del.) and a 1-3 defeat to Puerto Rico Mayaguez in the tournament's final match.
FIT earned a clean sweep of WU in the morning session with set scores of 25-14, 25-16 and 25-19. Similar to the previous night's performance, the Panthers stifled their opponent's attempts and held the Wildcats to a combined attack rate of .104. The Crimson & Gray, on the other hand, hit .243 for the match.
Jenna Schaffer led all hitters with 11 kills while also picking up a double-double with 10 digs.
Kelly Germain impressed with eight kills, eight digs and three block assists.
Olivia Hersey collected six kills, five digs, four block assists and three assists in the match. The Orlando-product also finished with the highest combined attack percentage over the three matches (.426) of any player in the tournament.
Abigael Brenke and
Kiayna O'Neal each picked up four kills versus the Wildcats.
Kiersten Rosa dished out 26 assists in the match, one more than the entire WU team combined.
Becca Bower led all players with 15 digs to go along with four service aces.
Wilmington, which went 0-3 during the weekend, was led offensively by Allison Briley and Rebecca Rawlinson with six kills apiece. Briley also added 10 digs to her overall stat line. Addalyn Flores led the squad with 11 digs and Jill Braunsberg picked up nine digs to go along with three kills and a team-best two block assists.
In the weekend finale, the Panthers opened up strong against Puerto Rico Mayaguez by jumping out to a 1-0 lead after a 25-16 first set. However, the Bulldogs tied it up quickly with a second set score of 25-16 and from there rattled-off two more set wins to steal the Panthers' perfect weekend. The victory gave the Bulldogs a 2-1 record for the tournament.
Despite clearly dominating the opening set by out hitting its opponent .375 to .114, FIT was unable to keep the momentum going as the Bulldogs picked up their play and held the Panther hitters to just .173 over the final three sets. However, what really hampered FIT in this contest was the team's inefficiency on service plays. In total, the Panthers gave up 20 points as a result of service and return errors, two more than the team's combined total from the previous two matches.
The sophomore duo of Germain and Hersey guided FIT with 14 and 12 kills, respectively, while also collecting two block assists apiece. Brenke added nine kills of her own and Schaffer produced seven kills and 10 digs. Rosa picked up 29 assists in the contest giving the sophomore 93 for the weekend. Bower notched a match-best 20 digs to go along with five assists and
Nicole Fortuna posted 13 assists and eight digs off the bench.
Natalia Del Valle powered UPRM with a match-high 15 kills to give her a tournament-best 40 for the weekend. Valeria Santos and Genesis Arroya each collected 13 digs while also contributing nine kills and 34 assists, respectively.
Following their impressives performances this weekend, Germain and Hersey were named to the 2016 Panther Invitational All-Tournament Team. A full list of the All-Tournament Team selections can be found at the bottom of this release.
The Panthers will be back in action next weekend when they travel to West Palm Beach, Florida for the Hyatt Place Bash at the Beach, hosted by Palm Beach Atlantic at the Greene Complex for Sports and Recreation. The two-day tournament runs from Sept. 9-10 and will feature eight teams with three ranked in the preseason AVCA Top-25, in No. 3 PBA, No. 8 Ferris State and No. 16 Washburn.
2016 PANTHER INVITATIONAL ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Taylor Svehla #16 MH Georgia College
Ebony Powers #7 OH Georgia College
Allison Briley #25 OH Wilmington (Del.)
Addalyn Flores #1 L Wilmington (Del.)
Natalia Del Valle #12 OH Puerto Rico Mayaguez
Ashley Maldonado #4 RS Puerto Rico Mayaguez
Kelly Germain #6 OH Florida Tech
Olivia Hersey #24 MH Florida Tech
